


our meeting (our time)

by vnknown



Series: catching dreams [1]
Category: Dreamcatcher (Korea Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Future, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Angst with a Happy Ending, Comfort, F/F, Humanoids, Light Angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-12
Updated: 2021-01-14
Packaged: 2021-03-16 19:15:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,114
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28711884
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vnknown/pseuds/vnknown
Summary: the scribbles on each page reminds her of a time when the world was a tone of waiting, an endless possibility of a guaranteed forever. now, they exist only to remind her of what she will never see; of what can only be a dream once reachable but now forever blown away by the cruel winds of time and reality.she disposes the notebook into the fire, watching flames lick the hardbound cover until—orthe soulmate au that no one asked for, where people see colors when they touch their soulmates for the first time. unfortunately for yoohyeon, the world is hardly ever kind to her.
Relationships: Kim Minji | JiU/Kim Yoohyeon
Series: catching dreams [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2104740
Comments: 10
Kudos: 39





	1. in the night sky, far away, i saw a brightly shining star

**Author's Note:**

> DREAMCATCHER IS COMING BACK, BINCHES!!!!!!!! omg i was planning to write this slowly and reach at least until chapter 3 BUT HERE WE ARE. #CYBERPUNK!!! I GOT SO EXCITED!!!!! 
> 
> anywhomst. this chapter is just setting the tone, giving just a tiny bit of background. like really tiny. you can barely see it.

in a world where only traces of the past remain, the last thing a person can think of is finding someone who is meant to be with them forever. people are always trying to be one step ahead of everyone else, trust is hardly earned nor kept, and faith is a faraway fantasy for most ordinary people.

yoohyeon feels the familiar tingling sensation behind her eyes and has to scrunch her lids shut to get rid of it. she wishes it is tears that cause such discomfort, but she’s lost her ability to shed tears a long time ago; two years, to be exact. since then, any discomfort is brought upon by the wires that lay behind her eyes, the very same that allows her to see the world in a plain canvas of moving objects in different shades of what she can only recall as blue.

it’s all mechanical, not only her eyes, but also the world surrounding her.

the year is 2071 and so much has changed on earth.

she’s seen photographs of the old world. skyscrapers already existed, electric cars already running on the roads of every city, artificial intelligence was beginning to see rapid growth and development, and humans—

well.

humans were slowly replaced by machines. laborers were laid off and in came the  _ future _ , a more efficient way of getting things done, those history books said. work was faster, goals were achieved quicker than when humans were used to do the work, and there’s the matter of lesser resources used; lesser money used on food and salaries and—

you get the point.

the introduction of more advanced technology benefited the world, they said, but not one section in all the history books she’s read mentioned the effects of replacing humans with machines.

families were starved, people ended their own lives to escape the cruel reality of what has become today, and while there was a group of people who fought to stay until now, it doesn’t change the glaring fact that only the rich benefited. the poor, they suffered.

“are you done reading?”

the question jolts her out of her focus. looking up, she wets her lips and closes her book slowly, laying her hand on the cover for a few seconds before sighing.

“is it dinner yet?”

“no,” her sister, siyeon, shakes her head and crosses the threshold with a bag held in her hand. “but we need to clean them up.”

her eyes. the tingling must have been due to the lack of lubrication.

she sets her book down on her desk and lifts her legs onto her bed, laying her head on her sister’s lap after she’s taken her usual spot by the head of her bed.

“did you feel it again?”

yoohyeon hums in response, keeping her eyes close for now until she feels a light tap on the corner of her left eye. she opens it slowly, keeping her gaze locked on the ceiling while siyeon proceeds to squeeze a few drops onto her eye.

“the other one,” siyeon prompts softly, placing gentle fingers on her eyelids to part them, doing the same as she did with the other. “now close them; let them soak.”

yoohyeon does as said, but quips, nonetheless. “i know how this goes.”

“doesn’t hurt to remind you since you always forget to do this on your own, anyway.” siyeon puts the bottle back into the bag after patting any excess drops clean off of her face. “call me if you feel anything different.

siyeon carefully lays yoohyeon’s head on the pillow and bends down to press a kiss on her younger sister’s forehead before leaving.

yoohyeon hums belatedly in response, content to keep her eyes closed for now.

it’s all pitch dark, none of the blue she’s gotten used to.

sometimes she wonders if life would be easier if she had just stayed blind.


	2. among those numerous people

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> yoohyeon laments her loss;
> 
> a meeting happens.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> keeping this short because i tend to not finish stories because of the pressure to produce long chapters. thanks to those who left kudos! ♥

there’s a part of her who wishes that she can tell a tragic tale on how she lost her eyesight. maybe an accident, a car crash or someone carelessly throwing a whole glass of toxic liquid that could have contributed to her predicament in this moment, but as it goes, there’s none of that.

there’s only the unexplained condition that seems to have been running in her family’s bloodline for generations even before this one. it’s funny that humans have managed to accelerate the development and improvement of technology over the past decades and yet, humanity is still plagued by the lack of answers when it comes to biological errors.

it’s as if all the money went into the invention of all these things that only the privileged are able to have access to; where did the funds for human preservation go?

one would think that with how advanced science and technology have become, there will be answers, cures and solutions for everything—

well. it’s not necessarily wrong. there  _ is _ a solution; she is able to see the world after all. the discouraging fact is that there is no permanent cure for  _ anything _ , and anyone with a common sense will come to the conclusion that this is not simply because no one has found the cure yet, but merely because if they find an end to these questions, how are they going to make money out of these desperate souls?

yoohyeon doesn’t like being this cynical; if there’s anything that her elder sister has taught in the past two years, it is to remain kind and open to explanations, to accept facts and continue living for herself.

while she appreciates the advice, a part of her is resentful over the fact that siyeon can say those words because she has found the one thing that makes them all human:

a soulmate.

as technology slowly replaced humans in most aspects in life, one thing remains to be natural for all of them, and it is the process of finding your one true love.

yes, people, especially innovators and inventors, have tried to mimic or cheat nature by creating machines that will allow impatient humans to see colors before they can even meet the one person who will grant them the gift to see the world in a new perspective. some have even tried to invent a machine that will find one’s soulmate, but numbers can only do so much and there is never a guarantee that the machine will  _ really _ show you who your soulmate is.

plenty of studies have shown that some humans, if not most, only ended up more dissatisfied than otherwise because the fact remains that nothing can ever mimic the natural vibrancy of this world when it is given by your soulmate. the greens of plants will never be as green as the ones seen by those who met their soulmates naturally; blues will never be as rich, the yellows and reds and…

yoohyeon closes her book and blinks rapidly. the tingling is back, but it hasn’t even been more than five hours since her sister did her drops for her.

she sighs softly and gets up from the bench, pocketing her book as she turns towards the bus stop.

the longer she spends time outside her room, the more she realizes that she’s grown to hate the world she lives in. better it be for her to stay inside the four corners of her room; at least, there’s minimal things for her to see and wonder about. she doesn’t have to ask what color her desk is, or her chair, or the bed sheet she’s currently using. siyeon does that for her. she doesn’t have to ask about the color of the sky during a rainy day, or if snowflakes are truly as white as one can ever be.

she’ll never know those colors. there will only be blue and grey; even if she is to meet her soulmate right there, at the park, will she even notice? will she see the world unveil its colors and tell her that she’s met  _ the one _ ?

most probably not.

swallowing, she pulls her headphones out of her bag and puts them over her ears, drowning the world outside of her head as she waits for her ride at the bus stop. not long after, the bus pulls over in front of her, the doors open, and out come the people who are in a rush to get to their destinations. she waits patiently for her turn, but that doesn’t stop someone from bumping into her.

she lets out a quiet grunt, gaze finding a woman donned in what she recognizes is an outfit made of leather; from gloves to her jacket to her shoes. maybe her pants are denim. the stranger is busy with her phone and spares yoohyeon only a brief second of her attention before she’s turning to walk briskly down the street.

humans. even basic manners have left humanity, it seems.

shaking her head, she climbs into the bus and finds her usual seat after scanning her wristwatch for her payment.

it should take less than ten minutes to get to her house. as she leans back into her chair, she lets out a sigh, eyes closing as she loses herself in the music blasting out of her headphones. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> feedback? :D


	3. unchanging polaris

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> when the stars align.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you to those who left comments and kudos. ♥ 
> 
> few things that i realized while writing this short story: 
> 
> 1\. i write better when i am not pressuring myself to write long chapters.  
> 2\. it's better to let the words come out on their own instead of forcing them out of my head.  
> 3\. i love dc. vote on sma. thank you. share the fic to your friends? only if you liked it. ♥

**_2068_ **

> _ dear diary, _

__

> _ siyeon met her soulmate today. her name is gahyeon. she’s very pretty, and her hair is pale. it’s so different compared to siyeon’s. our hair is very dark, so i guess, our hair is black? how lucky are they to have met each other already? mom said she met dad when she was eighteen. siyeon is twenty-four today, i’m twenty-three. is that normal? i suppose so. _
> 
> __
> 
> _ i hope i meet mine next year. _

minji stares at the hands of her wristwatch, watching it move in staccato with every second that passes by. as soon as the short hand strikes seven, she springs up to her feet and snatches her bag from her couch, covering the distance between her living room and her door with big strides.

the world blurs away in her quick, determined pace. not that there’s much to appreciate in her environment. she’s become used to the endless blanket of muted green and some other paler shades; from the pavement beneath her feet to the buildings surrounding her, the sea that lies still beyond the seawall, and the people around her.

there’s nothing much to notice. over the years, she’s learned to keep her mind on the only thing that matters most in a particular moment. right now, what matters the most is getting to work on time, and whether she inconveniences someone because of her rush or not, she can’t find it in herself to give it a single thought.

living alone in the big city as a twenty-five year old woman is hard enough as it is; sometimes, minji has to lose her manners for the sake of keeping herself from being inconvenienced.

every day, she rides the bus to work and her commute is always as smooth as one goes. people in the city seem to have developed this innate proximity sensor where they can just go and walk around without having to worry about colliding with objects or other people in their way, which is a surprising fact given the population of seoul.

but not everyone, it seems.

it starts with a considerable impact on her shoulder, one that she gives what seems to be only half a second of her attention to, if the way she continues walking down the street after answering her phone is anything to go by.

she keeps her gaze on the pavement beneath her, still giving concise answers to a client on the phone, as she distractedly notes how the usually dull gray pavement seems to look much brighter in that moment. she lets it go, thinking that maybe it is a particularly bright morning that day, but as she walks closer to the pedestrian lane, a child donned in an adorable sundress comes into her line of sight and minji finds herself pausing.

her heart beats hard, once, in her ribcage; so strong that it is almost painful.

she stares at the sundress, a bright yellow with sprinkles of other colors that she can’t recognize just yet, and then, after what seems to be  _ forever _ , she exhales heavily and moves her gaze somewhere else.

everything is so bright, so  _ vibrant, so… different.  _ minji forgets about her client, loses the strength in her arm that it falls to her side limply, fingers barely able to keep their grip on her phone.

“miss,” a voice calls to her from her right. “are you okay?”

it’s the child’s mother, but she can’t seem to gather enough strength to reply to her. all she can do is breathe out heavily again as she turns her head to the direction of the bus stop — the last place where she  _ remembers _ having contact with another person. she sees flashes of dark hair, headphones on, a long cardigan over a plain shirt and denim pants from that very moment and minji realizes: she’s met her soulmate.

the bus is just leaving the stop and elation blossoms inside her when she realizes that it is taking the turn where she’s currently standing. she locks her gaze on the windows, watching out for anyone that may be having the same reaction as her or the woman that matches the description that she can remember.

she sees her, a brief burst of happiness taking over her, only for it to be taken away by the lack of  _ reaction _ from her soulmate. a frown settles on her face and before she knows, she’s turning away from the pedestrian lane and following the slow-moving vehicle in hopes of catching the attention of the woman inside the bus.

“hey!” she calls out, uncaring of the attention she’s getting as she starts jogging to match the increasing speed of the bus. “you! hey!”

but the bus keeps going, the woman keeps her eyes down, and soon enough, minji is left behind as the bus makes a turn far down the street.

minji has never known heartbreak before, but she wonders if this is what it feels.

* * *

**_(in a messy handwriting)_ **

**_2069_ **

__

> _ is life so selfish that even the gift of sight is taken away from me? _

__

__

**_2069_ **

__

> _ i want my eyesight back. _

__

**_2069_ **

__

> _ i know some people are calling me ungrateful; that not everyone is privileged enough to be born in a rich family, that not everyone is able to afford an operation to bring back my eyesight. _
> 
> __
> 
> _ but i  _ **_can’t_ ** _ see. _
> 
> __
> 
> _ everything is different. everything’s not the same. _

__

**_2070_ **

__

> _ siyeon told me it’s blue. _

* * *

“thank you for coming out with us, yooh.”

yoohyeon puts on a tight smile, nodding her head lightly. “i know, and i told you, you don’t have to take care of me. i’ll be fine on my own. what could go wrong at the beach, right?”

siyeon is visibly uncomfortable at the idea of leaving yoohyeon alone and if it isn’t for gahyeon tugging on her arm after exchanging knowing looks with the latter, she probably wouldn’t have left at all.

as they walk away from the bonfire where yoohyeon has chosen to stay for the rest of the night, she exhales softly and turns her gaze to the blue fire in front of her. everyone else is milling around with their respective soulmates. there are a few who seem to be enjoying their solitary lives; some young, some old, some there because they’re working, but even with the number of people around her, yoohyeon has never felt so lonely until now.

letting out another sigh, she looks down at her diary and opens it to a random page. this one has no words but is covered with doodles of hearts, clouds, and things that she used to associate with the thing she used to look forward to so much.

the doodles on the page reminds her of a time when the world was a tone of waiting, an endless possibility of a guaranteed forever. now, they exist only to remind her of what she will never see; of what can only be a dream once reachable but now forever blown away by the cruel winds of time and reality.

she disposes the notebook into the fire, watching flames lick the hardbound cover until a mechanical hand shoots past her and into the fire, snatching her almost-burnt diary from the coals.

“that would be such a waste, don’t you think?”

she turns to the source of the voice just as the mechanical hand retreats back to its owner, ready to give whoever this stranger is a talking down, until she sees and recognizes the person standing before her.

it’s the woman from earlier at the bus stop.

”how did you find me?” yoohyeon asks, eyebrows scrunched into a frown. “who are you?”

the woman pauses, confusion coloring her features, if not a flash of hurt that seems to have escaped yoohyeon’s eyes.

“i’m kim minji,” the woman says slowly. “i— you were the woman at the bus stop, right?”

“yes,” yoohyeon scoffs as she stands, walking closer to get the diary from minji, but the woman stretches her arm up and extends her mechanical hand farther away from yoohyeon’s reach. “give it back to me.”

“no,” minji says simply, lips pursed tightly after. “aren’t you going to say something to me?”

“do you want me to say sorry? is that it?” yoohyeon clicks her tongue as she looks up and tries to jump and snatch the diary, only for the hand to extend farther away from her. she groans in exasperation and looks down at the woman. “stop mocking me! if you want to hear an apology from me, this is not the way to go.”

but the woman is silent, opposite to what yoohyeon is expecting, and then, slowly, the hand lowers down before the arm follows, diary held loosely in gloved hand. “here.”

yoohyeon takes her diary, still suspicious, but glad to have the diary back nonetheless.

“can’t you see?” minji asks, voice now sounding tired more than anything.

“see what?” yoohyeon asks.

minji is silent for a moment, and then she speaks quietly: “i saw the world after bumping into you at the bus stop.”

yoohyeon frowns deeply in confusion. “what do y—”

and then, realization kicks in.

it is visible in the way she stops and catches her breath in her throat; in the way she seems to lose her footing until a gloved hand steadies her.

“you mean…”

minji puts on a small, tired smile. “i am your soulmate.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> see you on the second part of the series!


End file.
